Truss and Sunak clash on energy costs at penultimate Tory hustings

theguardian.com:

Liz Truss has doubled down on her reluctance to “bung more money” at those who will struggle to afford spiralling energy costs this winter while Rishi Sunak said millions may be forced into destitution without extra support, as the pair clashed at the penultimate hustings of the Conservative leadership race.

With energy regulator Ofgem expected to raise the price cap to £3,500 a year from October for the average dual-fuel tariff, Truss warned the issue of spiralling fuel costs was not a short-term one. “If people think this problem is going to be over in six months they are not right. This is a long term problem,” she told the audience in Norfolk.

But Sunak said her planned tax cuts would fail to help pensioners and those on lower incomes, and added that extra support for businesses struggling with energy bills was “clearly something the new prime minister will have to look at”.

The two candidates’ economic plans were the focus of Thursday night’s hustings given the threat of a worsening cost of living crisis.

But Truss appeared more at ease, given she is comfortably the frontrunner in polls of Conservative members, and confidently took shots at Sunak, the BBC and the French president, Emmanuel Macron.

The foreign secretary said she would prefer Boris Johnson to be prime minister over her rival in the leadership race. When asked if Macron was a friend or foe, she said: “The jury’s out. If I become PM, I’ll judge him on deeds not words.” And she said anybody who thought the BBC was neutral was “kidding ourselves”.

After Sunak claimed the downsides of lockdowns had not been properly considered during the Covid pandemic, Truss went further by arguing schools should never have been shut down and said she raised concerns over